Colossal Miscalculation On Health Care

The always brilliant Charlie Cook, points out that the Obama Administration has made a colossal mistake by talking about health care and climate change, rather than taking a page from the Clinton Administration and focusing on the economy.

Honorable and intelligent people can disagree over the substance and details of what President Obama and congressional Democrats are trying to do on health care reform and climate change. But nearly a year after Obama's inauguration, judging by where the Democrats stand today, it's clear that they have made a colossal miscalculation.

The latest unemployment and housing numbers underscore the folly of their decision to pay so much attention to health care and climate change instead of focusing on the economy "like a laser beam," as President Clinton pledged to do during his 1992 campaign. Although no one can fairly accuse Obama and his party's leaders of ignoring the economy, they certainly haven't focused on it like a laser beam.

I can't say that I am a big fan of Bill Clinton on a personal level, his faults have been well-detailed and unnecessary at this point, but Clinton presided over a massive growth in the economy. Now that economic growth had its problems as well, but the economy was always foremost in Clinton's mind.

Like Cook, I think the Obama Adminstration is trying to do something for the economy, but putting it, at best, second or third in domestic priority behind programs that are going to add to economic woes much more than detract from them, the signals from the White House are mixed.

We can debate what I consider to be the growth of the nanny state, but when 1 in 10 Americans who are wanting to work can't find work, that is a big problem and that problem has to addressed first. What I find interesting is that Americans believe that something must be done regarding healthcare, but most people want to see the economy put on a sound footing first because that is the only way we can address healthcare.